D'Antoni COTY (merged)

bigbadred00 · May 9, 2005

D'Antoni COTY

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2056225

Personally I thought it should be McMillan or maybe Skiles, I think even Adelman has done a better job with the Kings than D'Antoni with the Suns. Personally I think the personnel rather than the Coach dictated the Suns success.

IDK. This story isn't on the main page but seems real.

Ray Allen34 · May 9, 2005

Nate got robbed

but Mike D'Antoni done a good job this year

BK_KingsFan · May 9, 2005

bigbadred00 said:

Are you kidding me?!?!?! D'Antoni ain't ****. Nash runs that team.
Take a look at who Skiles and Carlisle have on their team compard to what the Suns have on their team. I personally think either Skiles or Carlisle have done better coaching jobs than anyone in the league.

kingsfannPDX · May 9, 2005

how about a GM of the year award. that would definately go to the suns' GM. i don't think dantoni deserves the award.

El Duque · May 9, 2005

Personally, I think that if everyone's going to sing PJ's praises as a great "hands-off, zen, ego subverter", then there should be no wringing of hands over D'Antoni's coaching job, since that is exactly what he did, without the head games. McMillan is the only other coach that I thought deserved to have his name in the hat. Adelman has had better years, though he would be my number three based on the adversity he had to overcome. What a lot of people fail to recognize when they sing the praises of Phoenix's personnel, is that this team had no depth for the better part of the year, and is hampered by positively Bibbian defense in Nash and Stoudemire. D'Antoni had a lot of guts to plug in guys where he did, and while most people (myself included) poo-poo'd a lot of his lineup ideas, here we sit with Marion grabbing 12 boards a night as a POWER FORWARD in the WEST. Testament to Marion's great ability, yeah, but most coaches would have been trying to split minutes between Marion and Richardson, Joe Johnson would still be timid, and Jake freakin' Voskuhl would be their starting center. Kudos to a coach with the brass needed to put his best guys on the floor and to let them do their thing.

sloter · May 9, 2005

I'm not sure why , but i was never really a fan of D'antoni, even back when he was coaching back in Treviso - but he continuously proves me wrong about not having faith in him. He definitely gets the results, but unlike something that L. Brown did, he needs to have a lot of firepower...

skillet · May 9, 2005

Here we go again: "my coach is better and more deserving than your coach"

Just_Lurkin · May 9, 2005

i don't think he deserved this one. I remember when Nash went down, he actually admitted on TV that his first thought was "we're gonna lose". And it seemed his team reflected his feelings, b/c lose they did. What the heck kind of coach thinks like that.....or at least admits to thinking like that. he pretty much gave up on the team until nash came back.

C Diddy · May 9, 2005

Actually, I agree with this a lot. He did a great job. No one realizes what moving Amare to C and Marion to PF has done for them. I give D'Antoni all the credit for their turnaround.

Evenstar · May 9, 2005

i would have given it to george karl.

that team did a 180 with him at the helm, and ended up having a really good year after a dismal start.

AriesMar27 · May 9, 2005

poor skiles.... the baby bulls finally make to the playoffs for the first time since the jordan era and what does he get for all of his hard work? nothing....

jacobdrj · May 9, 2005

Aries, uhh, he got a playoff berth, usualy that is alot.

JayBird · May 10, 2005

I thought that this year's coach of the year award was an absolute no brainer... apparently I was wrong. Your team is slapped with HUGE injuries and suspensions all year, and you still manage the 6th spot in the East, AND a first round win. Carlisle got absolutely robbed. If Nash is hurt, and Marion and Amare are suspended, the Suns don't win 10 games this year. But O'neal, Artest, and Jackson are suspended for a great majority of the season, and O'neal jacks up his shoulder a month before the playoffs start, and the Pacers are one of four teams still alive in the East, and IMO, still have a good chance of giving Detroit a good run. D'Antoniti my foot, Rick deserved this award.

LPKingsFan · May 10, 2005

JayBird said:

I thought that this year's coach of the year award was an absolute no brainer... apparently I was wrong. Your team is slapped with HUGE injuries and suspensions all year, and you still manage the 6th spot in the East, AND a first round win. Carlisle got absolutely robbed. If Nash is hurt, and Marion and Amare are suspended, the Suns don't win 10 games this year. But O'neal, Artest, and Jackson are suspended for a great majority of the season, and O'neal jacks up his shoulder a month before the playoffs start, and the Pacers are one of four teams still alive in the East, and IMO, still have a good chance of giving Detroit a good run. D'Antoniti my foot, Rick deserved this award.

Great points.

PejaFanatic · May 10, 2005

JayBird said:

Ditto, Carlisle totally got robbed. No way in hell the Suns would have finished a year remotely close to the Pacers. The Suns would have become a lottery team.
The Pacers went through so much and yet they are still in the playoffs. I am rooting for them all the way.

Lastly, I can't stand Mr. Cocky's mustache along with his renowned cocky attitude. He needs to act modest even if his team is winning.

bigbadred00 · May 11, 2005

sloter said:

Ugh Larry Brown has a pretty good team and had a good one last year. You guys really think Larry didn't have a lot to work with. While he never had Shaq and Kobe, he had some pretty damn good players and of course a great team.

Ben Wallace-3 Time DPOY
Sheed-Former Allstar PF, Great Defender and Can shoot the 3.
Prince-What a suprise, he's f'in good, can shut down the other teams best swing player with long Arms and now plays pretty well offensively
RIP-Pretty good player in his own right, good shooter, might be the best mid range jump shooter in the league.
Billups-A castoff, but a former 4th overall pick. He might be the most clutch player in the NBA right now. Had a great finals last year and a great year this year.

This Year-
McDyess-What a year, shoots high @ss % from the field and a good player and former AS.
Hunter-Not great, not bad though.
Arroyo-Sort of a disappointment.
Darko-EH?
Campbell-Good for Shaq

1-6 they might be the best in the league this year, the rest, eh?

Last year-
Corliss-6th man, dirty man, pretty good.
Okur-Not a bad backup for Ben, doing alright in Utah now.
Hunter-
Campbell
James-Pretty good.

Last year they had a better bench.

But to not say, LB doesn't have much is not really true. D'Antoni has a great 1-5, bench is rather questionable, but D'Antoni's 1-5 isn't much better than LB's 1-5. Amare = Ben, both are great on 1 side of the ball, Marion > Sheed, Prince = JJ, JJ has had a breakout year, Rip > Q, Q is overrated, he's a good player, but not that great, Nash > Chauncey, but I'd rather have Billups in the POs.

Ryle · May 11, 2005

JayBird said:

I was going to post this exact same sentiment. Carlisle should have been the winner hands down. You need to look at who did the best coaching job and I think D'Antoni was basically along for the ride. They had good health and NO EXTENDED INJURIES which helped them greatly.

If you were to tell me at the beginning of the season that Jackson would be suspended for 35 games, O'Neal for 25 games and Artest for the entire season and they still make it to the second round??? Amazing job by Carlisle.....

Evenstar · May 11, 2005

PejaFanatic said:

gotpitbull · May 11, 2005

Mike D’Antoni Named Coach of the Year

http://www.nba.com/news/dantoni_050510.html

NEW YORK, May 10 – Phoenix Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni has been named the winner of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season, the NBA announced today. D’Antoni, who is in his first full season as the Suns’ head coach, received 326 points, including 41 first-place votes, from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received. Indiana’s Rick Carlisle was second with 241 points (26 first-place votes) and Seattle’s Nate McMillan was a close third with 234 points (30 first-place votes).

D’Antoni engineered the third largest turnaround in NBA history this season, guiding the Suns to a club record-tying 62 wins, a remarkable 33-game improvement over last season’s disappointing 29-53 record. After finishing 11-30 on the road in 2003-04, they finished a league-best and franchise-best 31-10 (.756) on the road this season, the seventh-best road winning percentage in league history. Phoenix is only the second NBA team (1979-80 Boston Celtics) to win 60 games after a 50-loss season.

D’Antoni, only the second Phoenix Suns coach to be honored as NBA Coach of the Year (Cotton Fitzsimmons, 1988-89), led the Suns’ explosive offense to a league-best 110.4 points per game, as they became the first team since the 1994-95 Orlando Magic to average over 110 points. The team’s 16.2-point increase from last season (94.2) ranked as the largest increase in team scoring since the advent of the shot clock. Phoenix topped 100 points in 68 of 82 games this season and broke the NBA single-season record for three-pointers made with 796 (previously 735 by Dallas in 1995-96).

D’Antoni brought 30 years of professional basketball experience to the Phoenix coaching staff in June 2002 and began his reign as head coach in December 2003. This is the second NBA head coaching stint for D’Antoni, who served as head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season (14-36) and was the club’s director of player personnel in 1997-98. He was also an assistant for Portland in 2000-01 and a scout for San Antonio during the 1999-2000 campaign. During D’Antoni’s Italian League tenure from 1990-97, he led his teams to the playoffs each season and was twice named the league’s Coach of the Year.

The Coach of the Year Award is named after legendary coach and Hall of Famer Red Auerbach who guided the Celtics to nine NBA Championships. In 1996, Auerbach was honored as one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History as the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Following are the balloting results for the 2004-05 NBA Coach of the Year award and the all-time list of winners:

Player, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts Mike D'Antoni, Phoenix 41 34 19 326 Rick Carlisle, Indiana 26 29 24 241 Nate McMillan, Seattle 30 22 18 234 Scott Skiles, Chicago 18 24 37 199 Geroge Karl, Denver 10 10 17 97 Stan Van Gundy, Miami 1 3 4 18 Eddie Jordan, Washington 0 3 5 14 Gregg Popovich, San Antonio 0 1 0 3 Mike Fratello, Memphis 0 0 2 2

ALL-TIME COACH OF THE YEAR WINNERS

1962-63 - Harry Gallatin, St. Louis*
1963-64 - Alex Hannum, San Francisco
1964-65 - Red Auerbach, Boston
1965-66 - Dolph Schayes, Philadelphia
1966-67 - Johnny Kerr, Chicago*
1967-68 - Richie Guerin, St. Louis
1968-69 - Gene Shue, Baltimore
1969-70 - Red Holzman, New York
1970-71 - Dick Motta, Chicago
1971-72 - Bill Sharman, Los Angeles
1972-73 - Tom Heinsohn, Boston
1973-74 - Ray Scott, Detroit
1974-75 - Phil Johnson, Kansas City-Omaha
1975-76 - Bill Fitch, Cleveland
1976-77 - Tom Nissalke, Houston
1977-78 - Hubie Brown, Atlanta
1978-79 - Cotton Fitzsimmons, Kansas City
1979-80 - Bill Fitch, Boston
1980-81 - Jack McKinney, Indiana
1981-82 - Gene Shue, Washington
1982-83 - Don Nelson, Milwaukee
1983-84 - Frank Layden, Utah
1984-85 - Don Nelson, Milwaukee
1985-86 - Mike Fratello, Atlanta
1986-87 - Mike Schuler, Portland*
1987-88 - Doug Moe, Denver
1988-89 - Cotton Fitzsimmons, Phoenix
1989-90 - Pat Riley, LA Lakers
1990-91 - Don Chaney, Houston
1991-92 - Don Nelson, Golden State
1992-93 - Pat Riley, New York
1993-94 - Lenny Wilkens, Atlanta
1994-95 - Del Harris, Los Angeles Lakers
1995-96 - Phil Jackson, Chicago
1996-97 - Pat Riley, Miami
1997-98 - Larry Bird, Indiana*
1998-99 - Mike Dunleavy, Portland
1999-2000 - Doc Rivers, Orlando*
2000-01 - Larry Brown, Philadelphia
2001-02 - Rick Carlisle, Detroit*
2002-03 - Gregg Popovich, San Antonio
2003-04 - Hubie Brown, Memphis
2004-05 - Mike D’Antoni, Phoenix
*First-year head coach

gotpitbull · May 11, 2005

Close this thread please

D'Antoni COTY did not click in my head as being Coach of the Year

Sorry.

Fillmoe · May 11, 2005

i might be confused but didnt Rick Adelman win coach of the year a few years back?

Ryle · May 11, 2005

Fillmoe said:

No

PixelPusher · May 11, 2005

gotpitbull said:

I wasn't around for the Dick Motta coaching era of the Sacramento Kings, but all accounts I've heard were that it was an unmitigated nightmare.

PixelPusher · May 11, 2005

Evenstar said:

PejaFanatic said:

I thought he was a good mentor and father-figure for Maverick during the Top Gun flight competition.

^
(partial credit for the above joke goes to Bill Simmons of espn.com)

16to93 · May 11, 2005

I think there are 2 other coaches that deserve it more than he does.

BigWaxer · May 11, 2005

I have to agree Antoni. His team made the most dramatic improvement from last year.

My only question would be why hasn't RA been COTY. He certainly has deserved it...

JayBird · May 12, 2005

BigWaxer said:

1) Correction. His team has made the biggest improvement, most credit going to Nash. D'Antoni was along for the ride.

2)No, he hasn't. He did a commendable job, but even D'Antoni deserves it more than Adelman. It was too apparent that we had no idea what hit us in the playoffs. As has been said before, players win, coaches lose. When your team falls from elite status to first round embarrassment, you have no chance of COTY, no matter what the team went through during the season.

JayBird · May 12, 2005

PixelPusher said:

As were the Garry St. Jean years...

D'Antoni COTY (merged)

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